| dc.description.abstract | Supremacy of law, predominance of spirit of justice and equality before law are the
three pillars of the concept of rule of law. These three pillars articulate that ‘a
government should be based on principles of law and not of men’. Thus, rule of law
safeguards against State arbitrariness, anarchy and allows people to plan the legal
consequences of their action. However, it is not the function of the government alone
to uphold the majesty of law. In theory, the acts of the governed and the governing are
guided by this sacrosanct rule. Rule of law enjoins the citizens too, to adhere to the
law of the land. It requires the citizens to function within the boundaries of law. Non
adherence to the rule of law creates situations leading to anarchy and gnaws at the
very existence of the society and the State.
Crime and conflicts exist in every society. It is the desideratum of every society to
live in peace. It is the desideratum of every society to punish the offenders for
infractions of law threatening its peace. A man can be punished for infractions of law,
not for perceptions of violation of law, not for perceptions of violation of social
norms. State alone has the monopoly of ‘legitimate’ use of physical force. The power
to punish the infractions of law vests with the courts of law. Private citizens neither
have the power to punish infractions of law nor have the power to punish infractions
or perceptions of infractions of social norms. Law alone defines the infractions of law
and punishes infractions of law. When private citizens take law into their own hands it
leads to anarchy.
India has witnessed 355 incidents of mob lynching since 2015. These incidents
spanned across the length and breadth of the country. The primary reasons of these
mob lynching incidents have been commission or suspicion of commission of
offences against cows like, cow slaughter, cattle smuggling, consumption, possession,
transportation or sale of beef. Commission or suspicion of commission of crimes like
kidnapping, theft, murder, rape and drug peddling have also been the other reasons for
mob lynching in India. These incidents posed a new challenge to the criminal justice
system in terms of containment and punishment.
iv
Mob lynching is an extreme form of vigilantism. Vigilantism, as a criminological
concept has been less explored in India. The Research Scholar, therefore undertook
the study of mob lynching incidents in India which had left the law-and-order
machinery at the mercy of the savage mobs. To understand the underlying reasons and
to find solutions to prevent and combat mob lynching incidents in India, doctrinal and
non-doctrinal methodologies were adopted by the Research Scholar. The doctrinal
research entailed a detailed exposition of vigilantism as a criminological concept, an
in-depth study of various incidents of mob lynching, analysis of the existing
substantive and procedural laws and examination of the administration of criminal
justice system. A non-doctrinal study was carried out with the intent to understand the
ground realities faced by the administration of justice system and the society. To this
end, opinion of the various stakeholders of the criminal justice system, namely, the
police, lawyers, judges and academicians from the field of law was sought. For the
said purposes, a questionnaire method was employed | en_US |
